230610 St Louis Arch Elevator 2

Epic Road Trip: Cleveland to St Louis (Part 2)

230610 St Louis Arch Elevator 1

St Louis Arch Elevator 1

The first leg our our family’s epic road trip was perhaps the easiest and most familiar. Going westward, we knew our first stop was absolutely going to be in St Louis to visit and stay with our dear friend.

We have visited the city many times, but yet had never done the most cliché of St Louis things…go up in the St Louis Arch.

Since we were only stopping overnight in St Louis, we secured our tickets for the Arch about five months in advance of the trip for the evening of our arrival. This gave us enough time to settle into our friends house, go to dinner and then head over for a late afternoon ride to the top.

The tiny little pods with clear doors were really awesome! We all crammed in and took the ride up to 620 feet above the St Louis skyline.

230610 St Louis Arch Elevator 2

St Louis Arch Elevator 2

Following our viewing, and knowing we were going to be focusing a great deal of this trip on Route 66, we made it a point to visit a route classic, Ted Drewes frozen custard. Who doesn’t love ice cream?

Our stop in St Louis was relatively low key, meant to spend our short time with our friend.

In addition, we knew we were going to have to wake up early to make the drive to Branson, Missouri the next morning to make our family’s first visit to Silver Dollar City. In order to maximize our single day in the park, we wanted to get there as early as possible, and with the park opening at 9:30 am central, meant leaving St Louis at 5am.

230610 St Louis Arch View West

St Louis Arch View West

Daily miles driven- 623 miles
Accommodations Cost- free

Continue reading about our journey below.

Just like our 2019 National Park Road Trip, we will break down the trip each day in separate posts as highlighted below.

Epic Road Trip: National Park Tour (Part 1)
Epic Road Trip: Cleveland to St Louis (Part 2)
Epic Road Trip: Silver Dollar City (Part 3)
Epic Road Trip: Rt 66 to Texas (Part 4)
Epic Road Trip: Texas Surprises to Santa Fe (Part 5)
Epic Road Trip: Four Corners and Arches National Park (Part 6)
Epic Road Trip: Canyonlands National Park (Part 7)
Epic Road Trip: Capitol Reef National Park (Part 8)
Epic Road Trip: Bryce Canyon National Park (Part 9)
Epic Road Trip: Zion National Park (Part 10)
Epic Road Trip: Knott’s Berry Farm (Part 11)
Epic Road Trip: Universal Studios Hollywood (Part 12)
Epic Road Trip: Meow Wolf Las Vegas (Part 13)
Epic Road Trip: Worlds of Fun (Part 14)
Epic Road Trip: Trip Wrap Up (Part 15)

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190817 Hilton Toronto Markham Suites Conference Centre Presidential Suite Lobby View

Review: Hilton Toronto/Markham Suites Conference Centre Presidential Suite

190817 Hilton Toronto Markham Suites Conference Centre Presidential Suite Lobby View

We follow several deal sites to alert us instantly when flight and hotel deals are found online. Back in September 2018, after just returning from our annual trip up to Canada, we received a notice that the Hilton Toronto/Markham Suites Conference Centre had mispriced their Presidential Suite. With rates typically around $700 CAD per night, they were coming up around $135 USD after taxes per night. That was an incredible deal that we just could not pass up.

So a year in advance, we booked the Hilton Presidential Suite for a trip in August 2019.

We love visiting the Toronto area because we use our Cedar Fair Platinum season passes to visit Canada’s Wonderland. The particular weekend we selected also happen to correspond with the Taste of Greece event at Canada’s Wonderland. Plus it would be the first time our kids would get to see the new Yukon Striker roller coaster after my wife and I attended the media event back in April.

When we got to the Hilton property, we were all super impressed with the grand lobby and all of us knew this was not going to be our typical hotel stay. We easily checked in and headed up to our Presidential Suite on the ninth floor of the hotel.

Upon entry to the room, there was a modern hallway with rooms off in each direction.

190817 Hilton Toronto Markham Suites Conference Centre Presidential Suite Hallway

Immediately to the left was a smaller bathroom complete with walk-in shower and no real door.

190817 Hilton Toronto Markham Suites Conference Centre Presidential Suite Bathroom

To the right was a small kitchen and dining room overlooking the lobby of the hotel.

190817 Hilton Toronto Markham Suites Conference Centre Presidential Suite Dining Room

190817 Hilton Toronto Markham Suites Conference Centre Presidential Suite Dining Room

Straight ahead was the living room with large seating area. All the televisions and lights were on when we entered the room, which was really nice. Plus the TVs had a personalized welcome message for me, which was a nice added touch.

190817 Hilton Toronto Markham Suites Conference Centre Presidential Suite Sitting Area

Finally to the far left was the bedroom complete with a king bed and en-suite featuring a soaker tub, shower, toilet and bidet, which of course our kids were fascinated with the idea.

190817 Hilton Toronto Markham Suites Conference Centre Presidential Suite Bedroom

190817 Hilton Toronto Markham Suites Conference Centre Presidential Suite Ensuite Tub

190817 Hilton Toronto Markham Suites Conference Centre Presidential Suite Ensuite

The room was nice, though it said in the listing that it slept 4 guests, but with no second bed. So our two oldest kids slept on the couch, which they were fine with the accommodations.

The hotel in general is part of a much larger complex complete with convention center, shopping and spa. Sadly the pool was just alright and nothing too impressive that one might expect at a premium Hilton property.

The one thing that really bugged us is the property chooses to charge guests for parking. We understand this additional add-on in places like congested cities; however, this hotel is far from Toronto, an airport, etc. It makes no sense why they do not provide complimentary parking for their guests. What was even more baffling is they front desk staff said the police will come around and ticket. Wait, on private property? It was just another money grab and BS charge.

While it was nice to get to stay in a Presidential Suite, the location of the hotel is not quite convenient for visiting Canada’s Wonderland, as it is at least 30 minutes away, assuming traffic is not that bad.

When we came up in April, we made the mistake of taking the 407 and then receive a price gouging bill a month later in the mail. So we were determined to everything in our power to avoid toll roads driving to Canada’s Wonderland on this visit. Unfortunately, that also means dealing with the huge traffic congestion problem plaguing the Toronto area.

This was the first trip to Canada where we really had long waits dealing with traffic. Not only was it bad trying to get to the park and then the hotel, but coming home and trying to cross the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls had long waits. So we redirected towards the Peace Bridge down near Buffalo. Unfortunately, we still ended up sitting in about a 90 wait to get across the border. Not sure what the deal was this trip, but it left us not wanting to return up north for the foreseeable future.

Overall, we still had a fun weekend and really enjoyed getting to stay in the Presidential Suite, though kids, no, we will not be staying there again unless there is another great deal.

190706 Worlds of Fun (1)

National Park Road Trip: Worlds of Fun (Part 14)

190706 Worlds of Fun (1)

Here we are, the last leg of our trip home, well sort of as we stopped one day at Worlds of Fun to soak in one last day of FUN with our Platinum Cedar Fair season passes that get us free admission and parking.

Our family was last at Worlds of Fun for the 2018 Winterfest event, which was phenomenal to see the park decorated for Christmas!

This trip would be just days before the kick off of the inaugural Grand Carnivale celebration. We always like visiting Worlds of Fun because it is so unique compared to all the other Cedar Fair parks. It is also quite fitting that the original design and theme of the park was Around the World in 80 days, and seeing as we were coming off of our epic family road trip, it was the perfect setting to end the trip.

I can not stress enough how much we adore Worlds of Fun. Each of the different themed areas are beautiful from the landscaping to music of the countries origin. We are especially fond of the Orient and Scandinavia sections.

190706 Worlds of Fun (4)

While we have visited Worlds of Fun several times, this was our first real opportunity to get to ride some of the attractions we had missed on previous visits. For this trip, we crossed off Timber Wolf, discovered a whole new area of Planet Snoopy tucked behind Cosmic Coaster we had never seen before, and got to ride Falcon’s Flight.

We were really sad to miss the railroad, as the engine is being overhauled. The Worlds of Fun train happens to be one of our favorites, because at least the last time we rode it, they have real actors out on the course.

Worlds of Fun is another one of those smaller amusement parks we always wish we could spend an extra day exploring. Typically when we are out in that area of the country, we try and fit the park in within one day, which there is a lot to see and do when you have not been there for a while.

The next day we were off on the last leg home. Nothing to stop and see, just hauling to get home at last.

Nearly 6,200 driven miles, 17 States later, that was an epic summer of parks (6 National, 1 State and 5 amusement/theme parks)!

190706 Worlds of Fun (2)

190706 Worlds of Fun (3)

National Park Road Trip: Cleveland to Los Angeles (Part 1)
National Park Road Trip: Cleveland to Minnesota (Part 2)
National Park Road Trip: Traveling to The Badlands (Part 3)
National Park Road Trip: The Badlands (Part 4)
National Park Road Trip: Mt. Rushmore, Mammoth Site & Needles Highway (Part 5)
National Park Road Trip: Devils Tower and Onto Cody, WY (Part 6)
National Park Road Trip: Yellowstone Day 1 (Part 7)
National Park Road Trip: Yellowstone Day 2 (Part 8)
National Park Road Trip: Grand Teton National Park (Part 9)
National Park Road Trip: California or Bust (Part 10)
National Park Road Trip: Disneyland & Galaxy’s Edge (Part 11)
National Park Road Trip: Knott’s Berry Farm (Part 12)
National Park Road Trip: Journey East (Part 13)
National Park Road Trip: Worlds of Fun (Part 14)